Downey, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Section 5212 of the Municipal Code states that ownership and the right to possession of Recyclable Solid Waste passes from the generator directly to the Solid Waste Collector, not the City, citing Public Resources Code Section 41950(c) as the source of that rule. This matters because it establishes who legally controls material once it is placed at the curb for the City's franchised hauler, rather than leaving it open to anyone who wants to take it. Section 5214 then draws the line between recyclable material you still own and recyclable solid waste that has entered the collection stream: nothing in the chapter stops a resident, organization or business from selling recyclable material it owns, or donating it to a charity or any entity other than a solid waste enterprise or collector, so long as the material has not been mixed with solid waste.

Once recyclable material is mixed with solid waste, Section 5214(b) treats it as discarded and it becomes solid waste subject to the chapter. Section 5214(c) closes a workaround: if a seller or donor pays the buyer or donee more than the market price of the material for collecting, processing, recycling, renting a container, transporting or disposing of it, the deal is treated as an arrangement for solid waste disposal, not a sale or donation, and falls under the chapter's rules. A resident who simply gets a lower rate for unsegregated waste is not considered to be selling or donating recyclable material under Section 5214(d).